SEVEN
FOR SOMEONE who could barely stand on her own legs, Katenia suddenly turned into a wildcat. Before he understood what she was doing, she’d shot around him, putting herself between him and his irate aunt.
Then, to his absolute astonishment, Katenia spread her arms as if to protect him, and let out a frustrated sound. “Do not yell at him,” she shouted, the air around them pulsing with her temper. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Nathan wasn’t sure who was more stunned about the vibrating air—him or his aunt. He hooked his arm around the fairy’s waist, and leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Katenia, sweetheart, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” She stomped her foot, and with it, there came the tiniest rumble through the grass and trees. Not enough to knock them off balance, but just enough to let his aunt know she’d pissed her off. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Apologize to him. Now.”
Mellie’s elegant brow winged up ever so slightly, before she shifted her gaze from Katenia to Nathan. “I apologize, nephew, and then I ask again—what did you do? Fairies aren’t meant to be human-sized.”
“A car horn spooked her. We were hoping you could help get her back to her normal size, and help her get back home.”
Concern flickered over his aunt’s face before she nodded and moved to the side. “Let’s get her in the house. It’s not safe for her to be out here.”
Nathan nodded once. Any questions he had could wait until they were inside. Because he still held Katenia’s plant in one arm, he scooped her up with the other. She tilted her head back to glare at him. “Why did you come between me and your aunt? She shouldn’t talk to you like that.”
He smiled at the fury in her eyes. “I’m a big boy. I can handle myself when needed.”
She snorted. “You’ve disrupted your entire life for me tonight. I heard you and Hope talking—you were meeting a woman tonight, weren’t you? I’m sure you’d rather be doing that then helping me. Your aunt should give you some credit.”
The indignant outrage on her face on his behalf was enchanting. It shouldn’t have mattered that she was defending him, but damn it anyway. He fought all day long, every day of the year, and he couldn’t remember the last time someone had thought to help him in some way. It was nice.
No, fuck that. It wasn’t nice. It was wrong, in a totally fucked up way, that someone as tiny and out of place as Katenia was defending him, but he fell a little bit in love with her anyway.
He cleared his throat of the emotion clogged in it. “I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I’m here because I want to be, Katenia.”
She shook her head. “Don’t do that,” she murmured. “Put me down, Nathan.”
He stopped and glared down at her. “Don’t do what?”
The fairy pressed against his chest until he gave in and set her on her feet, worried otherwise she’d hurt herself trying to force him to let her go. She took a step back, her arms spread for balance, before she pointed up at him. “Don’t make me like you. We can have sex all you want as long as I have this body, but liking each other is bad. Like really, really bad. I’m a fairy, not a human.”
She was right. They literally came from two different worlds. No matter what she looked like now, and no matter how much he liked her, she wasn’t going to stay. And no matter what Rhiannon thought of him, he wasn’t bastard enough to ask Katenia to give up everything to give him a shot. Not when his family’s track record of insanity and abuse made anything long-term a bad idea.
He jerked his head in a quick nod. “You’re right. Let’s just get this done.” His brow winged up as he forced his face to go neutral. “Do you think you can walk?”
Small, perfect teeth caught at her bottom lip, a shy smile tugging at her mouth. “I should probably try, right? Just in case this doesn’t work to change me back?”
He rubbed a hand over the sudden, sharp ache in his chest. “It’s probably a good idea.”
She bobbed her head in agreement, then canted it to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. “Just stay close, alright?”
“Yeah,” he murmured, steadying her as she turned around. “I’m not going anywhere.”
For as beautiful as her gardens were, Katenia didn’t like the inside of Nathan’s aunt’s house. It wasn’t the clutter or the dust, or even the piles and piles of things stacked haphazardly high, but rather the feel of the place. Her chest started to hurt the second the door was closed behind them, and the urge to flee was so great she took a step back. With her instincts screaming, she wasn’t about to argue with Nathan wrapping his hands around her shoulders.
“What is it?” he asked, leaning down to murmur the question in her ear.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, trying to hide the panic burning in her throat. The last thing she wanted to do was offend him, or his aunt, when they were both trying to help her. “I just can’t breathe all of a sudden.”
He didn’t even blink. “Aunt Mellie, I’m taking her to the back porch.”
She nodded without breaking stride. Katenia smiled up at Nathan, resisting the urge to leap into his arms and demand he run until they were free of this place. “Thank you.”
He nodded, and dropped one of his arms to wrap it around her waist to help her walk and guide her through the maze of furniture. The gesture was sweet, but all the warmth in his eyes was gone.
The pressure in her chest didn’t start to ease until they were fully out of the house. It didn’t go away, but she could breathe without wanting to curl up and cry.
“Katen.”
She closed her eyes at his voice. There were very, very few fairies who’d ever found a true mate, one they’d give up everything for and be faithful to until time ran out. She’d never expected it to happen to her, but every instinct she had kept screaming ‘mine’ every time she looked at him.
So she didn’t look at him. She could not afford to let her heart get involved. “Yes?”
He sighed. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”
“No.” Without looking at him, she moved a little farther away from the house to see if the feeling diminished any more.
“Katenia, what the hell are you doing?”
Giving up, because no matter which direction she paced, all she wanted to do was run, she turned to face him. Her head tilted all the way back. “You don’t feel that?”
He planted his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. With a wildflower garden behind him, his long dark hair wind-tossed, he looked every bit the mythical human warrior she’d always been fascinated with. “Feel what?”
“Something bad,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself as she looked around. The urge to take flight and find cover was so overwhelming, it almost hurt. “Something is not right here.”
When she finally turned to look at him again, his gaze was locked on her face, searching. “Okay,” was all he said. There was no judgment in his eyes. “Can you stand it for a couple more minutes while we try to get answers?”
She opened her mouth, prepared to tell him she wanted to leave. There was something very wrong in this place, but leaving meant the longer she’d have to wait to get answers. And as much as she wasn’t ready to say good-bye to Nathan yet, she knew staying would be bad for both of them. “I’ll handle—” her words cut off as a figure popped its head around the side of the house.
Dark, nervous eyes flittered around, then flicked from her, to Nathan, and finally back to her. For a second, she was sure she saw triumph and avarice curve his mouth, and in reaction, she darted into Nathan, gripping his arm.
He spun around, every honed and massive muscle in his body tensing until he saw the small, mole-like figure peering at them. He relaxed slightly, though he reached around and hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her into his back. “Uncle Thad.” For the first time, there was absolute steel in his voice. “What have I told you about skulking around?”
Thad
smiled, but it did nothing to ease the malice emanating from him as he lifted a hand and pointed at her. He grinned. “Fairy mine.”
And then he was gone.
EIGHT
WHAT THE HELL was that about? Nathan thought to himself as he stared at the spot his uncle had just been standing in. Gritting his teeth, his arm still looped around Katenia, he turned and yanked the flimsy screen door open, and bellowed for his aunt.
“What?” she snapped as she came scrambling out, an old leather-bound book clutched to her chest. “Since when do you think you have the right to bellow at me?”
He leaned down until they were at eye level, and bared his teeth at her. “I am not playing games with you, Aunt Mellie. I want to know what the hell is going on. Where did you get Katenia? How do I get her home? And how do I make her fairy sized again?”
His batty aunt peered up at him, her wire-rim glasses perched on her large, hawk-like nose. “Don’t use that tone with me. If you don’t like your gift, you say so. You don’t get nasty.”
He curled his free hand into a fist so he didn’t strangle her. “She is a person,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. “Not a gift.”
She waved that away with a flick of her bony fingers. “Semantics.” She sighed and leaned to the side, peering at Katenia. “What’s wrong with her? She seems like a viable female to me.”
Feeling like he had missed the moment his family had turned bat-shit-fucking crazy on him, he took a step toward his aunt, deliberately crowding her space and making her scramble back a step. “You did this to her. Quit the games, quit talking, and fucking fix her!” he roared.
“Nathan.” Katenia’s soft voice barely penetrated the haze of his fury.
“In a second,” he snarled, his attention still on his aunt. “I’m waiting.”
She shook her head, but he was glad to at least see the fear in her eyes along with the disdain. Good. She should fucking be afraid of him. “I can’t,” she said, her naturally sharp voice like nails on a chalkboard. “What’s done can’t be undone.”
“Bullshit!” He straightened, and pointed at her. “Bull. Shit. You’re still playing games, and I want to know why.”
Mellie lifted her chin. “Does she want to go back, nephew? Have you even asked her?”
Sure if he stayed for another minute he’d do something he’d regret, he grabbed Katenia’s arm. He leaned down into his aunt’s face again. “You have two days to figure out how to fix your mistakes. All of them. Or you can find out exactly what kind of madness runs in my veins.”
It was like the man had grown wings. Still unsteady on her feet, Katenia was having a hard enough time walking without the man dragging her along with him. She knew if she said something, he’d slow down or carry her, but she wanted away from this place seemingly as bad as he did. She was just grateful he hadn’t left her behind in his fury.
He was silent as they got back into the vehicle and on the road. He’d barely glanced at her as he’d helped her with the weird belt thing, but his fingers were clenched so tightly around the wheel she was sure he was going to pop a knuckle.
“Nathan?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked violently for a full moment before he ground out a single grunt that could have been a word that sounded like “Yeah”. She wasn’t sure, but she went with it anyway.
“Your aunt and uncle,” she started slowly, only to have him cut her off with a low growling sound.
“They’re behind this, and they’re up to something. Thad is Mellie’s younger brother, and he’s never been right.”
Because just thinking about him made her want to vomit, she hesitated saying what she felt, but if they’d had her kidnapped, they could do it to another fairy or pixie or sprite on their land. “What did he mean by ‘fairy mine’?”
“Hell if I know.” He let go of the wheel with one hand long enough to shove it through his shoulder-length hair. “But I’m going to find out. Until then, you’re staying with me.”
Katenia closed her eyes as her brain, which was screaming bad idea! loudly, warred with her heart, which was on a loop of Mine!
She willed back the tears trying to flood her eyes. The entire situation was out of her control, and no matter how much she hated it, she wasn’t going to collapse into a helpless female. Her sister, Chaela, was good at that. She’d bat her big blue eyes, and the entire male population of the Lillie Valley would collapse at her feet, begging to come to her aid.
Thinking of Chaela had a small smile tugging at her mouth. While her older sister let everyone wait on her, always being the princess, Katenia had been out learning. Talking to the bugs and the trees and the birds, learning how to help every living thing.
Nathan shot her a quick look. “Are you alright? I know I told you we’d get you home tonight…”
“Stop.” She reached out and laid her hand on his arm. She could feel the tension in him, his frustration at what he thought was failure in helping her, but she didn’t think he’d failed at anything. “Thank you.”
He snorted. “For what? My crazy-ass family got you into this mess.”
“Exactly,” she said, patting him on the arm. “Your family. Not you. Besides, you’ve never met my family. My uncle Finn once cursed one of my brothers and turned him into a toad.”
Nathan’s brow shot up. “That’s not in the same ballpark as kidnapping, Katen.”
“I don’t know what that means.” She sighed, feeling a little dejected. “I don’t understand most of what you say.”
His face softened, and his hands finally relaxed on the wheel. “It means it’s not even close to being the same thing.”
“Oh,” she laughed. “But it was ten years ago, and he still refuses to change Linx back.”
He chuckled softly. “And what did Linx do to deserve being turned into a frog?”
“Not frog. Toad. Totally different.” She grinned at him, before she winced. “He, ah, slept with Finn’s current mate of choice.”
He glanced at her again as he slowed the vehicle down, the beautiful gardens once again turning into cold buildings and ugly asphalt. “I didn’t think fairies took the mate thing seriously.”
“Mostly we don’t. It’s very rare for any fairy to commit to another for eternity, and Finn certainly isn’t one who would ever do such a thing.”
He let out a low rumbling sound of frustration. “Then why did he care?”
“It wasn’t the first time Linx had done it, and Finn had warned him he wouldn’t be happy if he had sex with Luania before Finn was done with her.”
A dark scowl crossed his face, all easiness gone suddenly. “What about you? Do you have anyone at home that isn’t done with you?”
Katenia shook her head, and turned her gaze out the side window. “I don’t want to talk about it, Nathan.”
“Tough shit,” he snarled, yanking the vehicle to a stop, and turning toward her. He reached out and gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I don’t sleep with anyone who’s already taken, Katenia. If you have a boyfriend, or someone at home you are fucking, you need to tell me, right now. I don’t share.”
Confusion rippled through her as she spun all the way around in her seat to gape at him. “We’re not having sex. I’m not having sex.”
He snarled at her. “Then what is it you don’t want to talk about?” he asked on a near shout.
She glared at him. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About—” her voice cut off before she could get the last word out, a little worried about the vein starting to pulse in his temple. Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. She knew she owed him the truth, but if she’d learned anything about him at all, answering wasn’t going to satisfy him. “The Elder Council has been trying to pair-bond me to someone. When I go back, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to stop it.”
The vein in his temple pulsed again. “What do you mean, you won’t be able to stop it? You don’t have a choice?”
“No,” she whispered, forcing herself to continue
holding his gaze. He was so big and terrifying in his sheer size, and they were in a cramped space. While she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, it made her uncomfortable. She blew out a breath and said the words anyway. “I won’t have a choice. As a fairy turned human, for no matter how long, I will be tainted goods. If I am not banished, I will be forced to pair to Aeron, to be used only to keep the fairy bloodlines pure.”
NINE
NATHAN NODDED as he jerked his car door open. “You’re not going home. You’re moving in with me. I’m not sending you home to be a fucking broodmare.”
He slammed the door before she could argue with him. This hope in her chest was not a good thing. While it sounded wonderful to be kept by him, she wasn’t human. This wasn’t her world. And if they didn’t know what had turned her this size, it could be anything that changed her back. She couldn’t let her heart get involved when she knew there was no possible way it could ever last.
She refused to look at him when he opened her door. She tilted her head back, staring up at an impossibly tall glass building. “Where are we?”
“My building.” He grabbed her arm and led her toward the door. “I’m in the penthouse. I know you hate elevators, but it would take us until tomorrow morning to make it all the way up the stairs.”
She nodded, exhausted just trying to understand half of what came out of his mouth. Then she stilled, her gaze flying to his. “Elevator? The metal box?”
He nodded, the vein in his temple still pulsing. “I’m on the fiftieth floor. I could carry you up, but it would take us hours.”
She swallowed hard, and told herself to be brave. “How long…if we take the metal box, how long before we get to your home?”
“Two minutes. I have my own elevator, so we don’t have to let anyone else on or off.”
Katenia nodded, pretending she understood what he meant. “Okay.” She pulled her shoulders back, and nodded again. “Metal box it is.”
Shadows and Stars Page 19